Software runs modern businesses – it is a competitive differentiator and part of the brand promise. With software playing such a central role for each and every business, it is expected that the software meet customer demands and meet an expected level of quality. Despite this expectation and demand for quality, the opposite is unfortunately all too frequent. Organizations demand speed and agility without thinking of quality. This current trend of ignoring software quality brings catastrophic failures on a daily basis along with skyrocketing costs; this is the cost of rework.

“Heartbleed, Poodle, Shellshock – these are all recent, extremely dramatic examples of how costly bad software can be to businesses. While most defects will not have this wide-ranging an effect, assessing the hidden defect cost for all software projects is essential for protecting the brand and bottom line of every business” said Theresa Lanowitz, founder and analyst at voke. “The cost of rework is a real and present issue that organizations must address. Only by understanding the true financial impact that hidden defects bring to all software projects can they begin to manage the cost of rework.”

The research report highlights:

Cost of rework models for both Agile and non-Agile projects

Business impact of defect leakage

Defect categorization

Recommendations for reducing rework and its costs

Business is differentiated through software. The cost of rework is the cost involved with removing defects. The later in the lifecycle a defect is discovered, the more expensive it is to remediate. The removal of defects earlier in the lifecycle is essential to eliminating the risk of exponential cost overruns and time-to-market delays.

The report also provides key assessment questions for organizations to explore to understand and manage the cost of rework.